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Reb Shlomo zt"l: Chanukah: Kindle One More Candle |
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Written by Reb Shlomo Carlebach zt"l
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 Teaching and Giving Over. There is such a thing as teaching, and there is such a thing as giving over. Giving something over to someone is much deeper than teaching. The Torah says Moses
received the Torah on Mt. Sinai, and he came down,
but it does not say he taught the Torah to Joshua. It says ‘u’m’sora’
, gave it over to Joshua. This is the deepest depths there is.
Sometimes one meets someone one can study with for ten years, they can
teach you for ten years and they don’t give anything over to you.
Sometimes you meet someone, and maybe they don’t teach you so much but
they give something over to you.
Reb Mendele Vorker, the silent Rebbe, was a rebbe for 40 years, and in
those 40 years he only spoke eight times. Even those times, on a
teaching level he didn’t say anything. At one time he was sitting with
his Chassidim for fourteen hours and at the end he said, haShem
Echad”. “G-d is One” and then he said, “Happy is the one who knows
that ‘G-d is one’ means G-d is One”. On a teaching level he didn’t say
anything, but when he said “Hashem Echad”. “G-d is One”, he gave it
over. We need someone to give over Yiddishkeit to us. We need someone
to give over to us, not to teach us that there is one G-d.’
The Torah says
‘Jacob, Yisroel, loved Yosef more than all his children
Naturally today, on the low level we are, if a father loves his son,
he says to him, “Man” – Oh no, he would never say man, that would be
too far out. He says, “Son, I want to do something special for you –
buy you a trip to Bermuda!” But what does it mean Jacob loved Yosef
more? Listen what Rashi says, All the things which Yaakov learned at
the Yeshiva of Shem and Aver he gave over to Yosef. You see, he taught
all his children the same information, but to Yosef he gave it over.
The Bais Yaakov says the most unbelievable thing. Sometimes the holy
prophets knew everything clearly, and sometimes they knew everything,
but it wasn’t clear. The Midrash says “Yaakov loved Yosef more than
all his children” and it also says G-d says to Isreel “I love you”.
This is my humble explanation. What did Yaakov give over to Yosef? He
gave over to him that he should know that G-d says I love you.
Knowing that G-d loves you is something you can not get via teaching.
It has to be given over to you. So the thing is like this, Yaakov
didn’t have clear prophecy, because he was not to know that Yosef was
to be a slave. But Yaakov knew that Yosef needed something special,
because he was the first Jew in exile.
Chanuka is the one holiday which has no tracates in the Gemora. Every
other holiday has a long tractate, even Purim, which is a minor
holiday. Chanuka has only about a page and a half in the Gemara.
Chanuka is a holiday of giving over. It says in the Krias Shma that
you shouId teach your children when you sit in your house and when you
go on your way. Teaching is ‘at home’ and giving over is ‘on your way’
because there is no time for teaching on the way, only time for giving
over. Chanuka is teaching and giving over become one, because on
Chanuka I have to put lights at the door of my house so that the light
the house (teaching) shines into the street (giving over).
When you teach someone you are not sure his light will increase, but
when you give over to someone vou know his light will grow. That is
why each night of Chanuka we kindle one more candle to shine into the
world, until all the streets of the world are full of light.
House of Love and Prayer, San Francisco. Hanuka, 5733
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